This has been a relatively quiet Christmas season in our house, all the better because January is going to be a very full month. I’ve been spending the last week or so finishing up some creative projects so my brain and sewing area is clear for the coming new year! For today’s Lingerie Friday I thought it’d be fun to share one of my latest sets with a bra based on one of the patterns I’m using in the sew-along.

I love the hunt for nice laces and good elastic. Some of my favorite lingerie notions have come from the remotest corners of the internet–usually not a well-designed web 2.0 shop that blings “Lingerie Supplies”! I’m a ninja googler. Still, it’s always nice to find something locally, and I did on a recent adventure to Texstyles, a newish fabric store in South Austin. It’s a tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it storefront simply labeled “FABRIC” with a screenprinted banner. Next to a breakfast taco van–a pretty good sign, as just about everything great in Austin is within reach of a breakfast taco. (It’s all about the salsa!)

Texstyles might be teeny and obtuse but it’s crammed with apparel fabrics–silks, knits, wools, a little bit of everything. And there there were all the baskets of elastic and lace trims in the window. I was encouraged to “just dump them out and find what you need and if you don’t, write it down and I’ll find it for you!” I like that kind of thinking, sort of like having a personal shopper for the L.A. downtown fabric district, which is where they visit monthly for their stock. Among all the reasonably priced baskets of elasticated goods I found a few bra trims and this delicate and very soft lilac stretch lace fabric.

The lace was perfect for a pair of ladyshorts and some other knickers but I also wanted to see if it could turn into a pretty bra as well.

The undies are a new pattern I’ve drafted. I’ve fallen a little in love with high-waisted knickers with panel designs, and I wanted this one to be entirely seamless except for the panel. I still have some pattern tweaks to work out and I’m not so hot about that big picot elastic, a little too frou for my taste, but it was a good trial run.

When I first made the Pin-up Girls pattern, it was hard to see past the plain and what I thought was old-fashioned look of the bra on the envelope. But I’ve found it’s incredibly easy to alter the pattern to something closer to my style or a more contemporary aesthetic. I’ve made several bras using the Pin-up pattern more or less as a block–many of which I haven’t blogged about. In my experience most important part of any bra pattern starts with the fit of the bra band, underwire and cradle. The cup style is pretty easy to modify. On this bra I made a pretty basic change by widening the strap placement and changing the cups’ side shaping for more underarm coverage. On me, the result looks closer to the demi bras I am used to wearing.

There are a lot of different ways to finish off the top of a cup and you can see on this one there is no trim or scalloped edge, but a clean finish to the edge. The cup is fully lined in sheer tricot for stability and to keep that edge from stretching out, I stitched in some narrow clear elastic to the seam allowance. It’s very invisible and feels really soft when I’m wearing it.

As you can probably tell from my previous lingerie posts, I’m always looking for fun ways to shoot lingerie. When I lay them flat on a surface, it’s hard to see details and tell what kind of form they have. When they’re hanging against a backlight, you can revel in the light and sheer. On my booty mannequin, you get a feeling for how they take shape. (Not that I have this shape, and I prefer to save these secrets for my man, but it’s close enough!)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Christmas. We’re off to the *shudder with cold* midwest to visit my family!

10 Comments on Lingerie Friday: Lilac Lace

Michelle L

December 22, 2012 at 4:39 am (2 years ago)

Did you know there was no such thing as a “muffin top” when all women wore high waisted knickers, they give a lovely line under most clothing,and its a bonus when they are as pretty as these. I’ve started collecting a few bits and pieces to give lingerie sewing a go in the new year.Thanks for the inspiration.

December 22, 2012 at 10:56 am (2 years ago)

What a pretty lingerie set. This is so inspiring. I can only hope my January sew along is as successful and produces such nice results. Merry Christmas from Minnesota!

December 22, 2012 at 11:26 am (2 years ago)

Oh, Amy, this is so, so pretty! I’m in love! Nice job, girl!

Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy your time in the Midwest! I’m in Chicago visiting family, and I keep concocting reasons why hubs needs to walk the dogs instead of me (It’s in the teens here! Way too cold for me!). Stay warm out there!

The lace bra and undie are lovely, as per usual. I’m with you on the picot elastic – a little too frou frou – but that’s what is great about lingerie – you can whip up and experiment in no time!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

December 31, 2012 at 2:12 am (2 years ago)

Wondering about the frou frou elastic: would silk charmeuse with spandex do the trick as a trim? I was just thinking about that almost electric purple stretch silk with the pale lilac and how I like those flat trims on updated utilitarian/vintage underthings that always manage to look so sophisticatedly modern (especially on the expensive stuff). I know little about fabric so educate me!

Amy

January 3, 2013 at 12:49 am (2 years ago)

Hey Stephanie, on the stretch purple bra, I used a lingerie elastic called “piping elastic”. It has what looks like a little satin rolled edge to it and I really like this stuff because it’s soft and somewhat unnoticeable. If you look at your bras, you will notice a majority of them use some form of picot elastic but the “picots” are really tiny. As a trim, silk with spandex won’t do the job to hold up the band of a bra, but it might be nice in other places. I have seen silk charmeuse as trim in bras but they are made like a tube and there is elastic inside the tube. I know what you’re talking about, though, re the utilitarian look–VPL and Stella McCartney both do a lot of cool things with elastic but some of those elastics are impossible to find at retail.